Hello everyone, it has been a little bit since I last played Tau and I am looking at once again fielding an army of them. I plan to go with the two-pronged approach, one of Pacific Rim themed army made up entirely of suits of Riptide class or bigger with some infantry support to fulfill required FOC slots. The other portion which I am asking you in this post is to construct of fun/fluffy army of Airborne/ Drop Troop Tau purely because I think it would look cool and for friendly Friday night gaming at my FLGS as the Army will most likely be Unbound. What I have thought of so far:

"With the limited resources and military power at his disposal Commander Farsight has often been forced to resort to creating some unorthodox Cadres to fill the gaps, one of these is the creation of an Airborne infantry Cadre deprived of suits. Designated as a QRF, light infantry style force this Cadre specializes in disruption and delaying tactics to tie up enemy forces until the main body gets there along with lightning assaults against vital enemy positions. Made up entirely of Infantry they also make use of experimental Jump Packs that enable them to drop into occupied territory from high altitude or Air Assault from Orca Dropships."

FORCE ORGANIZATION:

-Sword teams with Jump Packs (Vespids): Backbone of this force they provide the Firepower and durability needed to succed in the missions whether they be storming an enemy position or delaying, tying up enemy forces. The Assault 1 Profile of the weapon also makes sense as they have to conserve ammo being Behind Enemy Lines.

-Pathfinder Support Teams: Small 4-5 man teams with either Marker Lights, Rail Rifles or Ion Rifles with specialized designated roles for Support, Anti-Monstrous Creatures or Anti-Armor. These units sacrifice armor for Firepower in order to drop in safely with the rest of the Cadre.

-Sniper Teams: Small teams of Snipers and Sniper Drones with the intention of taking out Officers, Special/Heavy Weapon teams and high value targets.

-Orca Dropship: If I can get my hands on one (and there is a chance of that) will provide the bodies in a quick Air Assault Strike on top of it being a cool model. This will also enable me to bring conventional breacher and strike teams to flush out the numbers of my force.

-Barracuda AX-5-2: Limited in number when it comes to the Farsight Enclaves several have been given to this unit to aid supporting the troops on the ground courtesy of the array of hard-hitting weapons.

If you guys can think of anything else please don't be afraid to provide your input, I really think it would be a cool fluffy looking Army that would be different from so many other Tau lists out there. Thanks for posting!

While it is certainly a very interesting list idea (and anything that helps break the hegemony of battlesuit-dominated Tau lists is welcome to me), I wonder if there might be a few other unit options that may have slipped through.

First of all, are Forgeworld units an option for your usual gaming groups? If so I would seriously consider the possibility of fielding Drone Sentry Turrets to provide some extra special weapon support for your infantry without breaking theme (in fact they'd probably be an almost perfect fit, given that they're fully capable of being airdropped by Orca and are frequently used by the Tau for disrupting enemy advances).

Other than that, the other two units that seem like they'd fit with your theme to me are Drone Squadrons and Piranhas. Any drone built around the standard small drone chassis (so gun, shield and marker drones) could easily work, representing extra drone squadrons scattered over the battlefield by Tiger Sharks in close support, and would fill some useful roles (such as a squadron of marker drones for markerlight support if you don't want to use large Pathfinder teams).

Piranhas are a little bit more of a stretch, but I see no reason why they wouldn't be small and light enough for rapid air assault (in fact a Piranha with a fusion blaster and/or seeker missiles could be a good analogue to the jeep-mounted recoiless rifles and similar heavy weapons used by many real-life airborne forces). If Forgeworld units are an option, then Tetras could be similarly justified.

Forgeworld is definitely an option since that's why I'm using the FW barracuda! The turrets are definitely an idea however I don't know if they would really fit since their kind of static, however it would make sense if I were holding a position waiting for reinforcements like a landing zone so that's definitely something to consider.

I actually kind of like the idea of piranhas, especially the FW kind because they give me access to heavier weaponry which would make sense since an Airborne force would be lacking that!

It would not be much of a stretch to build a Counterstrike Cadre into the concept. The first turn Fast move would represent disposable boosters which enable the transports to make a low altitude deployment from Mantas.

Your description of the Vespid sounds exactly like Stealth Suits are described (except for the saving ammunition thing). Don't count of them being any more survivable than ordinary Firewarrior though, they rarely survive the first 2 turns in my games (often not even the first).

Imo the Infiltration Cadre fits your overall idea very well and their special rule allows for your flyer to come in very early and more likely. 3 teams of Pathfinder, 2 teams of Stealth Suits and a lone Piranha unit. If any of them get killed (the whole unit) all your reserves come in automatically on the beginning of your next turn....even if it's your first turn if the enemy had the initiative.

As for flyer....Barracuda and Remora are def worth their points and are very cool models as well! So much better than our lame codex flyer both rules and design wise.